Sibling Rivalry
by beatlejuice2712
Summary: Teddy Lupin has no parents and no siblings- and he can't help but think that he could cope without one, if only he had the other.
1. Five

Five.

Teddy is five. He is aware that something is not as usual, but he does not know what. He is at Grimmauld Place following Ginny around the house, watching her carefully. She moves very slowly, and she doesn't look as cheerful as she usually is. Over the last few times he has been to visit, Teddy has noticed she has been getting rather large. He is desperate to ask her what she has been eating to get so big but he knows his Grandmother would be terribly embarrassed if he asked such a question- after all, he knows it would be considered rude, even if he does not mean it to be so. He's just a bit worried about her. When people are worried about him, they ask him if he wants to play a game.

"Ginny," He asks her. "Do you want to play Hide and Seek?"

She looks at Teddy sadly. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I don't think I would be much fun to play with right now."

He watches her sit carefully on the sofa in the living room. "You see, I think it would be very difficult for me to hide anywhere!" She points to her stomach and forces a smile at Teddy, but he does not smile back. He thinks she looks ill, and it makes him sad. "You could play with Harry when he gets home, though. He shouldn't be long. Why don't you go and try to find the best hiding places now?" Teddy does as he is told, and as he leaves the living room he sees the House-elf running down the stairs. He follows it into the kitchen. From the doorway he sees it run into a smaller room off to the side, and opposite the pantry. As Teddy peers around he can no longer see the elf, but he can see a dingy door in the corner, underneath the boiler. He imagines it is quite a spacious little cupboard behind the door, and decides that it would be a very good hiding place, if only he had someone to hide from.

A little while later Harry does indeed arrive home. Teddy has continued on his quest for a decent hiding place and has reached the library, so when he hears the front door open he dives behind the curtains by the window. It is not an excellent place to hide, he thinks, but it will do at such short notice. Usually, when he and Ginny have been playing, Harry would immediately join in the game as soon as he arrived home.

But on this particular occasion, however, they do not play Hide and Seek. They call Teddy down to the living room and sit him on the sofa. Ginny sits beside him, whilst Harry crouches in front. They tell him, very seriously, that they are going to have a baby.

"Would you like that, Teddy? Someone to play with? He'll be like your little brother." Harry asks.

"Will you help us look after him?" Adds Ginny.

Teddy nods. He does not know what this has to do with Hide and Seek.

By the time Teddy is six, something has definitely changed. He has moped about his Grandmother's house and has not been allowed to visit Harry for what seems like a long time, due to something his Grandmother refers to as 'James'. For the life of him he cannot work out what all the fuss is about.

But, after three very long weeks, Harry appears. He tells Teddy that he wants him to come round to his house to meet this 'James'.

When he arrives, he quickly removes his shoes and places them beside the fireplace. He holds his Grandmother's hand and she leads him to Ginny, who is sitting carefully on the sofa with a huge bundle of blankets in her arms. She looks a lot happier now, Teddy decides. He is allowed to look into the blankets and he can make out a tiny, squashed face within them. He frowns. He finds it very strange that Ginny would be holding the house-elf like that, but he is told that this is James.

Teddy makes the connection that 'the baby', 'James' and 'the brother' are the same thing, and he is disappointed. He is still not entirely sure what a brother is, but since Harry told him he would be gaining something that would be like one, he had been quite excited to find out. He thought it sounded fun. He knows Ginny has a lot of brothers, and he cannot decide whether they are a good thing. This brother does not seem to be half as much fun as Ginny's brothers, and Teddy hasn't actually seen it _do _anything yet, apart from wriggle in the blankets. As he watches everyone absorbed with the odd little thing, and as he is continually made to look at it, he still isn't sure.

Teddy notices a gift bag resting beside the armchair he is sitting on. He knows it is rude to poke around in the bag, as it is not his, and due to the pale blue colour and pictures of bottles and rattles on it Teddy guesses it is for the baby. But rather peculiarly, the gift inside the bag is not suitable for babies at all- it is a book. He checks no one is watching and pulls it from the bag- after all this book is his brother's, he reasons, and brothers share. The book is filled with colourful pictures and large words printed on each page. He finds it an odd present for a baby- Teddy knows they can't read. But Teddy can. He isn't a brilliant reader yet, but he knows that practice makes perfect, and he thinks this will probably be far more interesting than a baby. Opening the book to the first page and resting it in his lap, he begins to slowly read the story of the Quidditch Keeper's Lunch.


	2. Five: Part Two

Part Two.

It is sitting in the living room of Grimmauld Place, watching a number of supposed grown-ups offer wide eyed, exaggerated smiles to a tiny baby, that Ron suddenly does not feel as old as he thinks he should.

Not for the first time since his little sister and best friend began discussing baby-proofing, feeding schedules and the general rearing of another very tiny, very dependent human being, he feels far too young.

The trouble with being best friends with The Chosen One is that sometimes Ron has felt that he was launched into adulthood very quickly. He has sacrificed himself in a game of dangerous, life-sized wizard chess, walked freely into a colony of acromantula, followed Harry into the Chamber of Secrets to save his sister, he has stood up to a dangerous Azkaban escapee, been poisoned, destroyed Horcruxes and watched family and friends die before his eyes, all before his nineteenth birthday.

Now, he's a qualified Auror, he catches dark wizards, for Merlin's sake- but he does not feel grown up enough to even consider looking after a baby.

The baby is three weeks old, and Ron has already met his nephew, but everyone has been invited round to Grimmauld Place today because it is the first time Teddy will see the baby. Everyone seems to think it will be good for Teddy to have another child around. Ron remembers when they said this before Victoire was born, but they saw little of each other, and by the time Victoire was old enough to play with Teddy, Dominique had already been born.

Ron can see Teddy sitting cautiously in the armchair beside the fireplace. He is carefully studying something resting open in his lap. He looks up and frowns a little at the gathering of people cooing over the baby, but he nods politely when his Grandmother asks him whether he is okay.

Teddy is far too polite. His manners at the dinner table are impeccable- he has been taught to use his cutlery correctly, his Grandmother scolds him should his elbow find its way onto the table during mealtimes, he knows to cut bread rolls at breakfast and break them open at dinner, he places his knife and fork together when he has finished his meal. He is courteous, he never forgets to ask 'how are you?' and to say please and thank you, he does not ignore people if they speak to him. He removes his shoes before entering someone's house, he helps his Grandmother when she asks for it and he tidies up after himself. He is not boisterous or loud like some children can be. They have often joked that Teddy skipped childhood altogether, and arrived in the world a ready-made adult. Sometimes he will turn up for tea at Ron's parents' house, dressed in a sweater vest or cardigan, his hair neatly parted, and inform them that, 'oh, it is rather chilly out there!'. Sometimes he will refer to things using names he has obviously heard his Grandmother use. He has had to grow up quickly, though, and as his Grandmother is his primary guardian it is difficult for him to be a child. Even now, when he does not fully understand why his parents aren't around, Teddy does not smile very much.

Ron guesses he has about as much interest in the baby as Teddy. It has been the only topic of conversation between everyone for months, and even Hermione has mentioned it more times than Ron cares to remember. He whispers something to Andromeda, before taking Teddy's hand and leading him outside- once Teddy has collected his discarded shoes from beside the fire- where they spin quickly on the spot, disappearing, and leaving Grimmauld Place, the rest of the family, and especially the baby, behind.

They arrive in a sunny field, with a lake at the very end, and great trees casting shade along the grass. They blink, the sudden shafts of light stinging their eyes, not yet accustomed after the sudden apparition. Many people are lying below the tree's branches, out of the sun.

"Ron!" Teddy whispers shrilly at him. "My hair!" The little boy points to his head, which is completely hat-less.

"It's okay. This is a wizard park!" He reassures Teddy.

He leads him down a well walked gravel path, along the edge of the field. A large number of witches and wizards are gathered around a small wooden hut with a pointed roof, precariously leaning a little to one side, at the end of the path. It is an ice-cream hut, selling all sorts of wondrous flavours- candyfloss, pumpkin, marshmellow, marmalade, earwax, a Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans flavoured ice-cream which Ron could never work out.

As the two wait in line, Ron catches Teddy's hair slowly changing to a deep tomato red colour. It almost matches Ron's, and he wonders if it is intentional. His hair colour is something Teddy can change easily, even if he finds it difficult to keep it the chosen colour, but sometimes his eyes changes as well, and freckles appear across his cheeks, but they are far less noticeable.

He lets Teddy choose his own flavour. Teddy marvels at the fact Ron always seems to have spare sickles in his pockets, and the two accept their ice-cream cones from the seller and sit upon a small corner of the grass nearby, and enjoy the dying sun of the late-afternoon. It is not too hot anymore and it makes for a pleasant atmosphere.

The ice-cream cone seems so much larger in Teddy's small hands, and Ron remembers when he would be brought here along with the rest of his siblings, often by his parents, but sometimes by Bill or Charlie when they were old enough, when his father was busy at work and his mother was busy with baby Ginny.

"What did you think of James?" Ron asks Teddy.

"He seems a bit… boring." Teddy admits, and Ron laughs.

"Yeah, I guess he does." He agrees. "What were you reading earlier?"

"The Quidditch Keeper's Lunch." Teddy recalls in one quick sentence.

"I've read that!" Ron remembers. "Merlin, that's a classic! Did you like it?"

Teddy nods enthusiastically and takes another bite of his ice-cream.

"My favourite part is the bit where Hamish the Kneazle is put in the basket to protect the lunch from the Augurey!"

"I didn't read that far. I didn't get to finish it."

"Oh, well, I'm sure Harry will let you borrow it some time."

"Hmm." Teddy murmurs.

"Where did you read to?"

Teddy tells Ron about the beginning of the book which he did manage to read, and Ron fills him in quickly on the book's ending, his story soon becoming much more elaborate and eccentric than the original. He guesses that Teddy suspects this, especially as Ron reaches the part with the dragon, which is slayed by a mysterious new character by the name of Ron. If he does have his suspicions however, Teddy does not disturb Ron, and by the end Ron rather suspects his version to be far superior to the one in the book.

He reaches the end of his epic tale, only to see that Teddy has lost interest and returned to contently eating his ice-cream. Ron, a little too adept at the Confundus charm, takes hold of his wand in his pocket and quietly casts the spell on an oblivious Teddy. Before Teddy realises, his nose has been dunked forward, and a mess of ice-cream is smothered on the end. His eyes open wide in shock.

Ron can't help but laugh. He's not sure whether he should be laughing at the little boy's misfortune, but the shocked look on his face is far too funny. "What did you do that for?" Ron teases, through breaths of laughter.

But Teddy, always far too clever for his age, spies Ron's hand upon his wand. "Hey!" He cries indignantly before, rather unexpectedly, he grins, an extremely toothy smile spreading across his ice-cream covered face. He begins to giggle, and Ron points his wand at Teddy's face, the ice-cream disappearing. And Ron can't say what it is- maybe it is just that Teddy's smile, so very rare, is so damn contagious- that he finds himself smiling too. Teddy is still laughing as he goes back to eating his ice-cream, which is beginning to melt down the cone and all over his hand, and for the first time, Ron thinks he looks like any other six year old boy.


	3. Eight

Eight.

Teddy is eight. "Grandma. I'm bored." He is in his Grandmother's dining room. She is sat at the table, and he is stood in the doorway. He pulls subconsciously on the sleeve of his jumper, and catches a loose thread. He toys with it between his fingers.

"Not now Teddy." His Grandmother writes something on a small piece of parchment. She sounds exasperated.

"Are you sure you can't play gobstones with me?" He pulls the thread a little. It tugs the threads of his jumper further up his wrist.

"Teddy I really am busy at the moment. Perhaps later." His Grandmother replies firmly. Teddy's Grandmother is not strict, but sometimes, she isn't a lot of fun. It is something Teddy has seen in a lot of adults. When they are busy, they have little patience with him. He thinks, not for the first time, that it would be nice to have a brother. A brother would mean someone to play Quidditch with, climb trees with, chase nargles around the garden with, sneak biscuits from the tin with. Perhaps they would have more chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties and cockroach clusters in the house. A brother, he thinks, would not get bored of him.

It would even be nice to have a friend. But they live in a heavily muggle populated area, and he is not allowed to become friends with any of the children that live nearby in case he lets something slip or his hair accidently changes colour- he still can't control it all the time. He has not started at Hogwarts yet, so he has no school friends to invite round.

He likes his Grandmother, but she is not very good at flying or climbing or running or being silly. Once again he wonders if his father would have been good at these things. Harry is good at flying, and Ron is good at being silly. He has often sat listening to Ginny read bedtime stories to James, and although he says he is too old for stories, he still wonders if his mother would be good at telling them. Hermione is clever; she can answer all of his questions and Teddy is sure she knows every counter-curse there is. Perhaps his mother would be this clever as well, he thinks.

"Do you want to floo over to Harry's?" His grandmother asks him absentmindedly. She is still writing, but she is crossing something out neatly.

Teddy shifts his weight uneasily between his feet. "Harry is always busy with the baby now." The nib of his Grandmother's quill snaps.

"Babies are very demanding." It is dismissive. It signals the end of the conversation. Teddy has not liked going to Harry's recently. The new baby cries a lot, and Ginny is always fussing over it, and Harry tries his hardest to pay attention to Teddy but sometimes he feels like he gets in the way. James is made to look at the baby and hold the baby and help care for the baby. Teddy had wanted to hold the baby the last time he went over, but he had had a cold, and he was not allowed to in case the baby caught his cold. Instead, he watched from the doorway as James held it. James was once Teddy's partner in crime. But now he has a little brother. James doesn't like sharing the attention; he's naughty and he locks the house-elf in cupboards and he pokes the new baby, which makes him cry even more, and which makes Ginny cross. Teddy knows he shouldn't annoy the baby, so he does not get involved. Instead he frees the house-elf from the cupboard. He doesn't know why he does it- the house-elf has never wanted to be his friend. He thinks it would even be nice to have a house-elf.

"I'll set up the gobstones for when we play later." He says quietly. Teddy shuffles out of the dining room and up the stairs to his bedroom. He does not find the gobstones, though. He knows that 'later' in his Grandmother's world will never come. Later, she will take him to the park down the road. Later, she will go to the shops to buy the biscuits that he likes. Later, she will tell him about his parents. Later, they will play gobstones.

Not for the first time, he finds himself stood in front of his bookcase, surveying the titles printed on the well-worn spines. He picks one at random. It is The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts by Arsenius Jigger. He has read parts of it before. He sits with it on his bed, and turns to a random page. It is on Red Caps. He hasn't read about these before. He can't wait to learn about them at Hogwarts. He can't wait to _go_ to Hogwarts.


	4. Eight: Part Two

Part Two.

It is not easy raising a child of war; of this, Andromeda Tonks is sure. It is certainly not easy raising a child, and it is even more difficult raising a _grandchild_, but raising a child of war is altogether something else.

Not a day goes by when Andromeda does not look at her Grandson and think of her daughter's deathly cold corpse, destroyed by Andromeda's own sister, lying beside her son-in-law, face stony and pale, both marred with dried blood, dirt and scars. More peaceful in death that ever in life.

They are the heroes of the crusade, the fatalities of the massacre. It doesn't matter what they are, though; to Andromeda, they are the dead. They are the ones she has cried herself to sleep at night thinking about, they are the ones whose last moments, in the midst of the bloodbath, she has imagined over and over, they are the ones whose happiness was ripped away from them, they are the ones it shouldn't have happened to, the ones who didn't deserve it. As if anyone does, of course. Andromeda wonders if that is a very Slytherin way to think, but if it is, she doesn't care. They didn't deserve it.

They are the ones whose child wakes up every day waiting patiently to hear a story he will never be told about what exactly happened to his parents. Now, they pass it off as being far too much for someone so young to hear, but in truth, no one can bring themselves to tell it.

Andromeda has already raised a child; her beautiful, dead, child. Never did she think she would find herself doing it again, alone, and it is altogether more difficult that she ever thought. Teddy may be her Grandson, but it is hard to raise a child that is not her own. She finds herself questioning her every action, wondering whether it would be what her daughter and son-in-law would want. She cannot help but instil in Teddy impeccable manners, she ensures he always looks clean and tidy, he speaks well and does not drop his t's or h's. She wants to raise him well; she wants to make her child proud.

Yet despite everything she cannot help but notice Teddy's melancholy. She cannot help but notice how Teddy is content to eat breakfast alone, how Teddy is content to wander around the small back garden alone, how Teddy is content to read books alone. And she cannot help but notice that Teddy does not smile very much.

She can offer Teddy very little. She cannot offer extravagant gifts or spontaneous daytrips. She is too old to play Quidditch or run around the park. She cannot fix everything like daddies can. She cannot offer him the solace of a mother's hug. She can, however, provide love, and she offers Teddy all the love in the world, for it is the best part, and the part she gives most willingly. Teddy will never know what it is like to have parents, but he _will_ know what it is like to have family.

Andromeda will offer anything she can. Today, in a desperate bid to cheer him up, she is throwing him a party. It is not his birthday, nor is it any kind of special occasion at all, but she wants to do something nice for him, and a picnic in the kitchen seems just the thing. It would be in the garden were it not raining, so they must make do with the magical foliage sprouting from the ceiling.

Picnics require sandwiches and sausage rolls and fizzy soda and cakes. Andromeda absolutely does not consider herself a baker- far from it. It is a notorious trait, and one her whole family seemed to share. She is a perfectly adept cook, but baking is apparently a skill which eludes members of the noble and most ancient house of Black. Unsurprisingly.

And so it is that she finds herself graciously accepting Harry's offer to borrow his house-elf for the afternoon. Harry had been very insistent, and would not take no for an answer. He assured Andromeda it was just because his house-elf could make an excellent Treacle Tart, but she was not so sure. After half an hour of listening to his grumbling, she couldn't wait to send him back.

But she would put up with it all twice over just to see Teddy's face light up when he came into the kitchen.

There are no guests at the picnic except his Grandmother and Harry's house-elf. Harry and Ginny are looking after the children, who have been suffering with a bout of illness, and Ron and Hermione are busy with their new baby.

But Teddy does not seem to notice. His eyes feast hungrily on the selection of party food on offer; the triangle sandwiches, the sausage rolls, the scotch eggs, the crisps, the dainty cakes, the meticulously decorated biscuits.

"Are those biscuits _homemade_, Grandma?!" He asks incredulously. Andromeda gestures towards the elf as she takes a seat opposite him at the table. "Can I have one now?"

At Andromeda's simple nod, Teddy eyes her suspiciously. "What?" He asks. "Before any sandwiches?" Andromeda simply laughs in response.

Teddy's eyes sparkle at the array of picnic food across the table. "Wow!" he tells her, chewing happily on a biscuit. She does not tell him off for speaking with his mouth full- he knows not to do it, but he is just caught up in the excitement of everything. She finds the situation laughable. His excitement at such a simple thing as a picnic tea is so innocent that she momentarily forgets everything they have suffered. Once again she finds herself silently thanking anyone who will listen for her blessing- her brilliant, blue-haired blessing.

She takes the time to appreciate her grandson. She would have fallen apart after the war if it wasn't for him, she is convinced. She asks him questions and she listens to his replies.

She works out that he has not been to Harry's for several weeks, and she feels awful when she realises she has been so busy lately that she hadn't noticed. Teddy was once fascinated with Harry; when James was born, however, he began to visit less frequently, and now with Albus's arrival Teddy's has barely seen Harry.

Teddy must find it difficult to share something that wasn't even his to begin with.

Andromeda asks Teddy about James, and the house-elf begins to grumble under his breath at the mention of his name.

"He's too young to play Quidditch and he doesn't understand Gobstones and he spends most of his time sulking!" Teddy tells her.

"I'm sure he would learn to understand Gobstones, Teddy," Andromeda replies, "if you didn't cheat all the time!" She does not wish to encourage cheating, but she is not really reprimanding Teddy for it. She finds it endearing- just a bit of harmless fun. It is a mischievous streak that she has been told his father had.

Teddy smirks cheekily, flashing Andromeda a wide, toothy smile. And Andromeda doesn't know what it is- perhaps it is just that despite its scarcity, Teddy's smile is so damn contagious- that she finds herself smiling fondly back at him. As she watches Teddy reach into the bowl of crisps and eat them straight from the dish, before pushing it under the house-elf's nose to offer him some, Andromeda thinks it is nice to see him looking like any other eight year old boy.


	5. Ten

Ten.

Teddy is ten. He is old enough now to go to the park by himself. His Grandmother, if she sits in her living room window, can see the grassy field opposite their house, so as long as Teddy stays close by he is allowed to go there by himself. He does as he is told; he never runs too far. But he wonders if his Grandmother is watching him, or if she is busy doing the jobs in the house that she never has time to do with Teddy there. If she were watching him, Teddy wonders why she doesn't just come to the park with him. It is not the freedom or the sense of responsibility he desires when he goes to the park, it is the change of scenery. It would be nice to have someone here with him. He finds no enjoyment in running about or rolling on the grass or kicking the strange muggle ball by himself. Instead, as he so often finds himself doing, he sits on one of the benches and reads. He is not allowed to bring any magic books to the park so instead he brings muggle paperbacks that he found in the attic. He reads about enchanted woods and faraway trees and fairies and angry pixies and men with moons for faces and saucepans on their heads. This is what magic must be to muggles, he surmises, and he does not dislike it. In fact, he thinks it sounds lovely, but that could be because the three children in the story are siblings.

It is on that bench reading when a child comes over to him. Teddy believes him to be about the same age. He is wearing jeans and trainers and a blue puffy coat. Teddy would love to have trainers, but his Grandmother has told him they aren't proper shoes. He wonders if this boy is a muggle. He does not know of any other magic children around here, but then, he does not know of many other children at all. Luckily, as it is winter, Teddy is wearing a bobble hat. If he is a muggle, Teddy is safe from revealing his secret.

"Is that your football?" The boy asks. Teddy guesses he is talking about the strange muggle ball.

"Yes." He replies.

"D'ya wanna play?"

"I'm not really very good."

"Doesn't matter." The boy dismisses. "We'll teach ya." He points over his shoulder to two other boys. They look similar to the boy stood in front of him; they all have dark hair cut into a short style, they are all wearing similar styled coats, but they look different ages. Teddy assumes they are brothers.

They teach him a few things about the game. It seems like Quidditch, but with fewer balls and more complicated rules. He does not know what offside is, but it sounds important.

"What team do ya support, then?" The oldest boy asks as they chase after the ball.

"I don't really, I'm afraid."

The middle boy aims a kick at the ball but it misses and his foot lands on the oldest boy's shin. He pushes him back and they laugh together. The youngest boy does too and Teddy, for fear of feeling left out, wants to join in, but he does not know what is so funny. Perhaps, he thinks, it is some kind of inside-brotherly thing, so he does not laugh with them.

"Our dad takes us to footie matches." The oldest boy tells Teddy. "About the only time we see him." The other two boys nod together. "He's a pretty lousy dad, really."

"Yeah." The middle boy agrees. "Lousy."

This time, it is Teddy who nods. He wonders if his Dad would be lousy. He doesn't know what it means, but he thinks it doesn't sound nice, so he hopes he wouldn't be.

"But then when we get back our mum always takes us to McDonalds. We have chicken nuggets and fries for tea which is wicked." The three boys smile as if sharing a private memory.

"What are chicken nuggets?" Teddy has no idea what part of the chicken a nugget comes from. His Grandmother has made meals with thigh, leg, wing and breast. But never nugget.

The three boys' mouths' open and almost hit the floor. "You've never eaten chicken nuggets?" The oldest one asks. Teddy shakes his head, feeling foolish, and the brothers look at each other, before turning back to Teddy and regarding his as if he had just told them he is an alien from another planet. Perhaps that isn't too far from the truth.

Teddy also does not know what McDonalds is, but it seems to be something muggles should just _know_ about, so he holds his tongue. Instead, he changes the subject. "Don't your parents take you these places together?" Teddy finds it odd that their father takes them one place, and their mother takes them another. Whenever he pictures doing things with his parents, they are always together- as a family.

"They used to." The oldest boy tells Teddy. "But now they don't get on."

"They're divorced." The middle one whispers knowingly. Once again, Teddy finds himself completely unaware of what being divorced involves, but from the looks on the boys' faces, it isn't something they like very much.

They talk as young boys talk; or rather, the brothers talk, and Teddy listens. He does not know what a Nintendo is, he's never heard of Manchester United, he does not have a desire to learn to drive a car nor does he know what car he wants when he is older, but if he were so inclined, the Ferrari the oldest boy described sounded nice. They want to know what secondary school he will go to in September, and not wanting to lie, he tells them he will go to a boarding school in Scotland.

"Why?" The middle boy asks. They are sharing some sweets, and Teddy wants to ask what sweets they are, but he does not want to appear ignorant. He notes what they are like; they are round and white and taste a bit like chocolate, with lots of tiny coloured sugar balls on the top. He thinks he will ask Hermione when he next sees her- although, since Hugo was born, he does not see her much.

"It is a good school. All my family went there, and all my parents' friends."

"Will you be away from your parents?" The middle one is still curious.

It is not Teddy but the oldest boy who replies. "Of course, stupid. It's a boarding school! He'll live there!" He pushes his brother on the arm. "Why can't you just go to the regular school down the road?"

Teddy shrugs. "I want to go."

"I'd hate that." The oldest boy decides. The middle one nods in agreement, and the youngest says nothing, but stares at Teddy. He finds it odd how they all seem to agree with each other.

He does not enjoy the game, but he does enjoy the company.

They know he is different, but Teddy does not think it is because he is a wizard. They can tell, from the book he was reading, and the cardigan he is wearing, and the turns of phrase he uses, that he has been raised by someone a generation older than their own parents.

The boys seem nice, but Teddy knows they probably won't be friends. He doesn't even know their names. They're not like him at all. Teddy cannot wait to go to Hogwarts.

But the brothers seem to agree on the same things and they all speak the same way and have the same quirks. They even look similar. Teddy finds it endearing that they look up to the eldest one. That's the type of brother Teddy would like to be, if he had a younger sibling.


	6. Ten: Part Two

Part Two.

A thoughtful look crosses the ten year old's face as he sits at the scrubbed kitchen table in Grimmauld Place. "Ginny, have you ever had chicken nuggets?" Teddy asks.

"No, never." Ginny looks over at him questioningly, wondering where on earth Teddy has heard of such a thing. "I think muggles like them though. It's like processed chicken, I think. They aren't very nice."

"Oh," he replies a little downheartedly. She watches his face fall.

"Why do you want to know, sweetheart?" She asks him, but he shakes his head at her, and looks downcast at the table top. He props his arm on the table by his elbow, and rests the side of his head in his palm.

Ginny is confused as to why such peculiar thing could make Teddy so sad, but he doesn't seem like he wants to elaborate.

It's at times like these that she hates everything that happened more than ever. It just isn't fair. In fact, if there's one thing that's said in regards to Teddy more than anything, it's that. And it makes it worse that they cannot seem to cheer him up. It's not that he is unhappy, it's just that he seems a bit… sad.

It just isn't fair. And Ginny hates it all. Teddy shouldn't spend his childhood battling something as big as the loss of his parents; no child should. He should be free to play games and run wild and dream happily at night, but instead he is plagued with 'what if's?' and 'why's?', the ethereal spirits forever waiting on the edges of his thoughts. Forever reminding him of why he is here. When he lies down to sleep in the evening, they remind him why he is in a bed at his Grandmother's house. When he plays by himself in the back garden, they remind him why he is alone. When he sits at the table watching Ginny prepare dinner, they remind him why he is not watching his mother do the same. What if his parents had been there when he had wandered downstairs for breakfast that morning? What if his parents had been there when he had stumbled over a rock in the garden flowerbed and grazed his knee? What if his parents had been there when he had woken up once in the middle of the night after a peculiar nightmare of being torn apart by a strange glistening silver figure?

They worry about him more than they should. And they try everything they can to make him happy, but sometimes it isn't enough. It cannot replace them; all the chicken nuggets in the world could not replace a mother and father's love.

Watching Teddy at the table, head bowed down and resting on the palm of his hand, she is reminded of the sight Harry relayed back to her when he had been round to visit Teddy the day before to invite him for tea tonight. He had found Andromeda sitting in her living room window, looking out at the park down the road. She had silently pointed it out to Harry, who could see Teddy sat by himself upon a bench, head bowed down resting on the palm of his hand. Andromeda had informed him that Teddy was reading a book that he had found in the attic, and he had been for most of the afternoon. It had had a sad effect of Harry, and Ginny felt the same.

"We're having Toad in the Hole, tonight, though, sweetheart." She tells him, in an effort to cheer him up. Teddy's favourite meal is Toad in the Hole, and Ginny knows this. He looks up from the table at her, but he does not smile.

"I'll need some milk, though!" Ginny announces suddenly. "For the Yorkshire Pudding. If you do want Toad in the Hole, it takes a little while to prepare so perhaps you could get some from the shop on the corner."

Not much of this is entirely true; Ginny is a witch, after all. She does not need any milk, nor will it take her a little while to prepare dinner.

But she does want Teddy to go to the shops. She pulls open a drawer beneath the kitchen counter and retrieves a handful of peculiar, thin papers. Ginny deposits the white and blue notes into Teddy's hand, who looks at them strangely. "It's a muggle shop, they won't accept our galleons Teddy!" She reassures him.

Teddy walks up the stairs from the kitchen and down the corridor towards the front door, narrowly avoiding the hideous troll leg umbrella stand. He has no idea why they have it; it doesn't match the décor of the house, and it isn't even nice. It's a trip hazard, Teddy thinks, what with the way it sticks out on the floor.

James, it seems, is also standing beside the door, coat in hand and shoes on feet.

"I will be going with Teddy." He boldly announces to his mother, who has followed Teddy upstairs.

"James, I'm not sure that's a good idea." Ginny has a feeling that James is not willing to reason with her.

Ginny doesn't know what to say. Teddy is only ten, and he may not want to look after a boisterous four year old, accompanying him to the shops. But James idolises Teddy, he looks up to him, and everything he does captivates James- there is no way he will stay at home if Teddy gets to go to the shops. And Ginny _wants _Teddy to go to the shops.

This is, she reminds herself, the son of Remus Lupin. He was born sensible, and has acted like a small adult for as long as Ginny can remember. And she knows James will be on his best behaviour for Teddy- he worships him. But she also reminds herself that Remus Lupin was a marauder, so just to be on the safe side, she decides that she will order Kreacher to follow the pair to stop them getting into any mischief.

"Fine." She sighs. "You can go with Teddy. But you are not to run off, or get into trouble, or be naughty in any way!" James smiles innocently at her, but Ginny knows him far too well. "Is that okay, Teddy?" Teddy nods, a somewhat apprehensive look clouding his face. "You are to go to the shops, and then come back. I think that's fair." She scrutinises the two boys, and they both nod in agreement.

"Do you have the money?" She asks, as Teddy folds the papers carefully and places them into his coat pocket.

Ginny understands muggle money and she knows that she has given Teddy far more than he will need for a bottle of milk. She tells him to buy some biscuits for himself with the change, and as Teddy turns to James, the apprehensive look on his face vanishes. Always far too clever, Teddy has worked something out, though Ginny isn't entirely sure what. Teddy waves goodbye over his shoulder and James bounds down the front steps, and as the two reach the pavement they laugh together, sharing some inside joke. They look just like any other pair of brothers, she thinks. Teddy flashes Ginny a mischievous, toothy grin. Ginny should be worried by it, but she can't help it- Teddy's smile is so rare yet so damn contagious- that she smiles gladly after the boy as he wanders down the pavement.

Ginny knows for certain that they will take a detour home and Teddy will buy himself a book instead. But after hearing about him reading a dirty old second-hand paperback in the park, it is exactly what she wants.


	7. Eleven

Eleven.

Teddy is eleven. It is exactly one month since he received his Hogwarts letter and he has not yet been to Diagon Alley to purchase his new school supplies. He is in no rush, of course- he does have until the end of August before he will need them, and that is three months away. But it is one of the things he is most looking forward to, and he thinks that if he were to get his supplies soon it would make the wait until September 1st seem a lot shorter.

He sits on the bench in the window and watches two girls playing across the street. They have neatly plaited hair and one is wearing red shorts, whilst the other wears blue shorts. They look similar, but they are not twins. One is taller than the other, so Teddy guesses that is the older one. They are new, and they do not yet know of the peculiar lady and her equally strange Grandson who live in number seven. It is best if it stays that way, he thinks. He continues contentedly reading his book- one he has acquired from Hermione, all about his new school. It is Hogwarts- A History, and Teddy has already read it from cover to cover twice. He won't be here long, of course- he is sure his Grandmother will soon have finished whatever it is she is doing in the kitchen, and then today will be the day that she will take him to Diagon Alley. It probably won't take them long, as Teddy practically knows the supplies list by heart, so if they set off in half an hour, they will have a good hour to do their shopping before the shops close at five.

A peculiar sound catches his attention. At first, he thinks it is someone shouting his name, but as he listens closer, it is more like some kind of chant, accompanied by an odd beating.

_'Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around,_

_Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground,_

_Teddy bear, teddy bear, reach up high,_

_Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the sky,_

_Teddy bear, teddy bear, bend down low,_

_Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your toes.'_

He looks up instinctively and out the window. The two girls are now skipping. They have tied one end of the rope to a lamppost, and one of the girls is holding the other end, whilst the second one skips. Teddy thinks it would be a lot easier to turn the rope if someone was holding the end tied to the lamppost. He looks around for his Grandmother, and after deciding the coast is clear, he takes it upon himself to help the girls out of their predicament by turning the rope for them. For perhaps the first time in his life, Teddy is going to bravely approach the two strangers and make some friends. Before he leaves, though, he runs upstairs and collects the bag of muggle sweets he made Harry buy for him. They are the same ones he remembers the three brothers having, and they actually look quite nice, he decides- even if they don't have collectable cards or peculiar flavours or they don't chase you around the room. He will share these, he thinks, with his two new friends once they have finished skipping. The prospect of sharing sweets with friends thrills Teddy, and he bounces back down the stairs and reaches the front door.

He can now hear the girls chanting something new. It is not the same as before, but the rhythmic pounding of the one girl's feet on the pavement as she jumps continues, keeping time for the other girl's song, and it mesmerises Teddy. It is steady and methodical and Teddy finds it strangely soothing, like a heartbeat. He cannot help but stand beside the door listening to the words of the new song.

_'There's a rumour going round of a great big beast_

_Who lives in the woods and waits for his feast._

_Little girls are his favourite meal, they say_

_He'll gobble them up if they come his way!_

_Nancy thought she was brave, and so_

_She went into the woods on her own- oh no!_

_Silently he crept from the shadows one night_

_Then howled and roared with all of his might!_

_The little girl ran as fast as she could!_

_What's the scariest monster living in the wood?'_

The girl jumping begins to shout something. She seems to be replying to the song.

_'A bear?' _Teddy can hear her call. The first girl, who had been singing, laughs, and shouts back '_no!'_

_ 'A lion?'_

_'No!'_

_'A tiger?'_

_'No!'_

The voices stop for a second, but the pounding of the feet continue. Teddy's hand is on the door handle and he is moments from emerging from his house to greet his new friends, when he hears it.

_'A werewolf?'_

_'Yes!'_ The answer is lost as the two girls begin to cackle at what they think must be a very funny joke, but it is a joke Teddy does not understand. Perhaps it's a sister thing, he wonders, or maybe even a muggle thing. But if he were honest to himself, he knows it is neither of these- werewolves it seems are unanimously the scariest things in existence, in both the muggle and Wizarding world.

He wants to storm out there and shout at them; tell them they're wrong, that there are all sorts of worse things to be afraid of, and that werewolves are harmless most of the time, but it's their _ignorance_ that makes people think otherwise.

But they would think he was mad. They're muggles, and they think werewolves are make-believe, and only exist in fairy tales and fables and can be killed by silver bullets. He can't march out there and tell them to stop being so narrow minded, and to stop thinking like a _muggle_, and that his father was a werewolf. He's fiercely loyal to his father, and if he could, he would stand up for him in front of those girls.

But he can't. And it's not because they're muggles. It's because he is not brave enough.

He no longer wants to join them. He returns to his seat by the window with his sweets, which are once again completely unappealing, and he picks up the book he had discarded. The girls have swapped positions now and Teddy can hear the monotonous dirge begin once again.

_'There's a rumour going round of a great big beast…'_

He wishes he could cast a silencing charm on the two girls. He can't wait to learn how to perform one at Hogwarts. In fact, he finds himself thinking yet again, he can't wait to _go _to Hogwarts.


	8. Eleven: Part Two

Part Two.

Knees shaking, heart pounding, Teddy walks towards the stool. It is a walk he's rehearsed before, along his hallway, with the kitchen chair and his Grandmother's best hat. He's heard everyone else recount their Sorting, and now, it is his turn. His legs are like lead but he feels like he's floating. It's the most important walk he'll ever take, and he has to restrain himself so he doesn't hurtle headfirst into the staff table.

The little three-legged stool is hard- not at all like the kitchen chair he practiced on. But then, that did have a seat pad. He'll only be here a short while, Teddy tells himself. There's no need to get too comfy.

He's wondered about this for what feels like forever. He's read every inch of the copy of Hogwarts- A History that he borrowed from Hermione. He knows all there is to know about each of the houses and their founders; he knows the qualities that determine each one.

The brim of the Hat falls over Teddy's eyes. Darkness. Alone with the Hat and his thoughts. But he doesn't need the hat; he already knows what house he's in.

Hufflepuff. Teddy is patient and just and loyal. His mother was a Hufflepuff, and every time one of the Weasleys' makes a joke about Hufflepuffs, he tells them this with pride. They shouldn't laugh at Hufflepuffs. They are faithful and kind and compassionate, and if that's a sin then Teddy's proud to be a sinner. He can already feel the fierce house pride swelling inside him. He's loyal to Hufflepuff, and it's this loyalty that earns him the place there to begin with.

But secretly- _secretly_- he wishes to be a Gryffindor. To be bold and brave and courageous. It's the house his hero was in- and it's the house in which he feels like he's spent his whole childhood. The way Harry and Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys' talk about it, he feels like he already knows his way around the common room, he knows all the passwords. He can practically feel those comfy chairs and the cosy fire. It was the first thing he ever really knew about Hogwarts.

Teddy begins to wonder if the Sorting Hat is listening to him. He knows he belongs in Hufflepuff, and the Hat knows that too, but Gryffindor is where his heart lies. Of course it's listening- it's the Sorting Hat, Teddy remind himself. But, why hasn't it said anything yet? He's practically made the decision for it.

Teddy sits in patient silence. That patience, of course- a vice of a true Hufflepuff. He tries in earnest to remember what Harry had told him about it, but in all this excitement, he just can't remember. Did he talk to the hat first? Should Teddy try this?

He can hear nothing but his ragged heartbeat; it ricochets around the room like great claps of thunder.

It seems like nothing is happening, Teddy decides. He does not want to disturb the Hat, in case it is still thinking, but if he sits here any longer they will start to think of him as a hat stand. He's not sure what to do, and he finds himself faced with a dilemma of sorts; should he continue to sit and wait patiently, or should he bravely do something and give the hat a push to get a move on?

And it is this pivotal decision that the Sorting Hat is waiting for. It is not what he _will_ do, but what he _wants_ to do.

And Teddy wants to be brave. He takes a deep breath, but he doesn't really know why, and is about to introduce himself to the hat, when a small, rasped voice echoing through his ears stops him.

"I can hear it all." Teddy grips the edges of the stool. "I do not place you depending on what you are, I place you on what you wish to be. You are patient and loyal, certainly, but you wish to be brave and courageous. And in Gryffindor, you will be pushed to achieve these things."

"So that's it?" Teddy wonders apprehensively. "I'm in Gryffindor?"

"Do you wish to be in Gryffindor?" The Hat replies softly.

Teddy grins a wide, toothy smile into the brim of the Hat, and if the Hat could, he'd probably smile back. As the Hat is removed from his head, Teddy can hear shouting and applause, one house cheering louder than the others. He looks at his new housemates, and then back over his shoulder at his new teachers, eyeing the headmistress happily. Teddy finds her smiling back at him. She can't help it; it's just so contagious. Maybe it's because she still has a fondness for Gryffindor house, or maybe it's because in that brief moment, Teddy looks just like any other of the students, or maybe, and most likely, it's because his smile is so much like his father's.

* * *

_So in my head I've always liked the idea that the sorting hat places people on what qualities they admire rather than what qualities they possess. Which would explain why Hermione was sorted into Gryffindor rather than Ravenclaw- 'Books and cleverness. There are more important things. Friendship and bravery." _


End file.
